Even with reports of tar sands oil being shipped to China, for Brand there is no question that New England could become a crude oil destination. He points to Enbridge's August 2011 application to reverse a piece of the pipeline in Ontario — and its accompanying request to be exempted from a full environmental impact review.

"Given that the project is characterized as 'Phase 1,' we therefore assume that [Enbridge's proposal] is in fact part of Enbridge's 'Trailbreaker' project . . . that seeks to move heavy oil through to Montreal and onwards for export to Portland and points beyond," Brand says. "It appears that they are trying to get the project rolling in a piecemeal fashion so as to avoid triggering the project's full environmental impact review and close public scrutiny."

ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE | July 24, 2014 When three theater companies, all within a one-hour drive of Portland, choose to present the same Shakespeare play on overlapping dates, you have to wonder what about that particular show resonates with this particular moment.

CHECKING IN: THE NEW GUARD AND THE WRITER'S HOTEL | July 11, 2014 Former Mainer Shanna McNair started The New Guard, an independent, multi-genre literary review, in order to exalt the writer, no matter if that writer was well-established or just starting out.

NO TAR SANDS | July 10, 2014 “People’s feelings are clear...they don’t want to be known as the tar sands capitol of the United States."